What a wonderful
addition to the fanfiction file! This is a great Star Trek paradox,
rife with irony and I am so pleased to be able to post it here in the
domain!

Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Star Trek is the property
of Paramount Studios, the following a non-profit work of fan-fiction. No resemblance to any individual, living or dead, is intended.

I watch down from the cave at the children as they play in the
valley below. They have been growing well and learning to care for
themselves. In the beginning, we only had enough genetic material for
twelve, but those earlier ones procreated and the youth have grown to
raise little ones of their own. Soon their population will be enough to
force them to spread to other parts of the world. It is that generation
that I now observe. We knew this day would come, when only one of us
would be left to finish the records of our deed.

All the data of our knowledge is in the journals stored in the
crystals and only this recording is needed to finish what we started so
long ago. My life is drawing near to its end and I must finish the tale.
One day the children will set out to explore their surroundings and they
will find the truth – this truth of their beginnings.

****************************

The Federation had made a contract with the Vulcan Council for the
privilege of exploring the desert for energy crystals, but T'Pal had
insisted that only the Enterprise crew would be allowed and she'd
specified Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy, and Spock as members of the
exploration team. The ship was left in orbit and the crew were allowed
shore leave in limited numbers in restricted areas. Scotty was in charge
and would be checking in with the three periodically. On the third day
the three spotted the stone cave on the side of the sand dune. Their
instruments told them that there were crystals nearby and they trudged
up the narrow, ancient pathway to the darken hole.

There was a portal covering the cave entrance and no one knew it
was there, not even after all three of them had stepped through it at
the same time. They had felt the tingling in their limbs and head, but
thought nothing of it as the feeling rapidly passed. The cave was a
disappointment. The floor was littered with crystals, but not the type
that would power the mighty engines of the Enterprise or could be
used by the Federation. A quick exploration and they were ready to leave
and resume their travels.

The Captain was the first to leave and he called the other two out
to see a changed world. The land was covered in red shrubs, and lime
green trees. The grass was purple and the water in the pond below was
pink-tinged. The sky held an orange tint. Across the valley was a
settlement of wooden and brick homes. In the hills above the village was
the multi-storied buildings surrounding a space port with three ships
pointing their tips into the sky.

Spock surmised that they had stumbled into some kind of time warp.
They had been thrown back into time before, but never on Spock's home
planet. It was a phenomenon to be investigated. Keeping the prime
directive in mind, Captain Kirk ordered them to stay out of sight as
they moved closer to the village. He only wanted to observe, not to
interfere with the inhabitants, but he hadn't counted on the hole that
Spock stumbled into. It caused him to go down crashing into a red thorn
bush. Spock had been behind the other two and the commotion caused them
to turn just as he fell into the thicket.

They hurried back and aided him to rise. In the process, both got
scratched by the thorns. The ankle was swollen but not broken. More
threatening was the thorns impaling Spock's flesh. With both of them
working on it, they had the thorns pulled out in minutes, but not
without the sweat popping out on Spock's forehead. He was quiet, not
giving them any trouble like he usually seemed to do. This was
disturbing to Bones. Spock was a bad patient during the best of times
and his introspective and cooperative behavior was unusual.

There was a grove of trees not far away in the valley, so with one
on each side, they supported him through his journey to a resting point.
McCoy took a cloth from his medical kit, wet it with his flask of water
and took a swipe at Spock's forehead. His hand was stopped in mid air
and the cloth was taken from him. Spock used it to wash his face and
kept it balled up in his hand as he rested against the tree trunk.
Captain Kirk took out his communicator and demanded the attention of the
Enterprise, but after many tries and listening to white noises,
he gave it up as a lost cause.

Kirk towered over Spock, looked around and decided to cut short
their explorations. Spock was turning pale and when he touched him, his
skin was cold and clammy. With the cooperation of Bones, they lifted
Spock back to his feet and made their way back up the hill. The Captain
thought he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye, but was
distracted by Spock bending over and losing the contents of his stomach.
He was getting concerned, because his second in command was getting
sicker by the minute. There must have been some kind of poison in the
thorn plant. He wondered why he and McCoy were not affected, but brushed
it off to not getting a large dose, as Spock had received.

As they passed the plant, McCoy paused, broke off a piece of it
and deposited it into his medical kit. They soon reached the cave and as
one they went into it. Turning back to look over his shoulder, Kirk
spotted the sand dunes below. Allowing Bones to support the weight of
Spock, he searched both sides of the cave opening and discovered the
controls to the portal. He didn't touch anything, but ran Spock's
tricorder over it to record a visual record. He knew this would be
important to the Vulcan Council. Scanning his memories of the last time
they had encountered this type of time travel, he recalled that all
three of them had to move through the portal at the same time.

Returning to Spock's side, he took the taller man's arm around his
shoulder and with McCoy on the other side, they made their way through
the portal again. The heat on the other side was stifling and dry and
the sand was warm to the touch. He knew from the concern on McCoy's face
that Spock needed medical attention very soon. Gently he disengaged
himself from contact with Spock and they allowed him to sink to the
ground. The man was unconscious and McCoy had brought out his medical
tricorder and was waving it over the Vulcan's body.

Bones gazed down at Spock and shook his head. He didn't know
whether to believe his instrument's readings or not. He had never seen
the Vulcan this sick before and at this point he could only treat the
symptoms not the underlying cause. It was imperative to get him on board
the Enterprise as soon as possible. This time when Kirk used the
communicator, it worked and he instructed Scotty to beam all three up
immediately. Their images disappeared as their bodies were scrambled in
the transporter's beam.

***************

We had explorers once but they didn't stay long. They had an
encountered with the plasmat plant and one of them grew sick fast. We
had watched as they came out of the cave and made their way down into
the valley. Plalt was the one who came out of hiding and picked up the
thorns that they had torn from the tall one's form. They were still
intact. The ones that had scratched the other two were shriveled up and
black. He barely had time to complete his task before they returned.

We watched as they entered into the cave and disappeared from
sight. We followed them and found it empty. I've often wondered what
happened to them. I hope the tall one survived as he was the one who
contributed the genetic code we needed and we were grateful. You see,
our race was dying. Our world was changing fast. We had made many
mistakes in our race to be the masters of our world, mistakes that had
upset the balance of the land and seas. Our lust destroyed our domain.

The plants and animals were dying and the composition to our
atmosphere was changing, becoming thinner. Too much sunlight was coming
through the clouds and our world was drying up and becoming hotter. Sand
was beginning to encroach on our villages and towns. The area of the
cave was one of the last pieces of land that was not affected. Soon,
though, it would become as the others had become, dead and dying. The
sun rays were causing changes within us also. Only one female had given
birth in the last days and the child had sicken and died. It would be
the last child born. Our medical people declared that our females were
barren. We were a dying race and even if we escaped our world on the
ships pointing to the skies above, there was no escape from our genetic
fate.

But Plalt had a plan when he observed the explorers and their
troubles. If enough of the thorns weren't contaminated, we had a chance
to repopulate our world. All depended on whether he could gather the
thorns quickly and unobserved. I was the leader and gave him my
blessings. It's ironic that his plan worked so well, because he didn't
live long enough to see it through. He sicken from an accidental prick
from one of the plasmat thorn and died. Others of our medical people
carried through infusing some of our genetics into the tall one's and we
were able to generate 12 of the children from the genetic materials.
They looked like the tall stranger. They had the greenish tint to their
skin, the arched eyebrows, pointed ears, and enhanced hearing and sight.
The only thing we didn't expect was their wildness and emotionalism. But
his must have been an evolved race and we were starting over. As each
generation came into being, we watched as the wildness receded and they
fought to established their beginnings

We had long since destroyed our settlements and buildings,
allowing the sand to bury them, so that the new children would not be
contaminated by our presence. I feel the weakness in my body and know it
won't be long. I plan to take this recording and put it with the others,
but for a few moments I want to bask in the joy of watching our
children.

***************

After viewing the recording, T'Pal looked up and gazed out on her
sand-covered, hot world. She had been in contact with the Enterprise
and knew that Spock was recovering from his thorn induced illness. McCoy
had examined the plant throughly and found it a quick acting toxin to
the Vulcan blood. He had flushed out the Vulcan's blood just in time
before Spock would have succumb to the poison.

She guess she should be grateful to Kirk for turning over his
tricorder recording of the portal to the Council, but the crystal
recordings scattered over the cave floor brought discordance to her
world. To think that their world was the result of pollution and a
paradox she could accept, but it wasn't easy to know that Spock was the
father of their race. As soon as Spock was well, she would request the Enterprise
to return. The medical community was demanding a sample of his genetics.

He was part human and now human DNA was also coursing through the
Vulcan bloodline. It would open up a whole new line of research in their
roots and their blood ties to the humans. Much research in the buried
sands around the cave would also need to be done. She wondered how this
would affect her grandson when he was told of the news. He would be
revered by some and scorned by the purists of their race. She had time
to prepare and would be ready when Spock transported down from the Enterprise.
Meditation was needed and as she walked out onto the patio of her desert
home, she resolved to guide her world and her descendant through the
coming changes.